13/08/2026
🐾 MULTI DOG HOUSEHOLDS 🐾
There’s no one picture of what a successful multi dog household should look like.
Having multiple dogs can be bloody awesome. They can play together, learn from each other, explore together and form some pretty incredible relationships.
But every combination of dogs is different.
You might have a puppy alongside a senior dog, dogs with completely different energy levels, play styles, needs and personalities. Some will be best friends, some will love playing but also need their own space, and some will happily coexist without interacting much.
One of my biggest pieces of advice when it comes to multi dog households is to treat your dogs as individuals.
🐾 Give them one on one time with you. Training, walking, playing, adventuring or even just hanging out without the other dogs around.
🐾 Train and fulfil them individually. This gives you the opportunity to focus on what that dog actually needs, without the influence of the others. One might love play, another might love sniffing and exploring, while another might enjoy training or simply some quiet time with you.
🐾 Advocate for your dogs. If one dog has had enough, step in and make sure that boundary is respected. They shouldn’t continually have another dog in their space who isn’t listening to their communication. If we don’t advocate for them, eventually they may feel the need to make that boundary clearer themselves.
🐾 Give them space from each other. They don’t need to do everything together! Learning to be comfortable apart is important too. There can absolutely be an unhealthy level of codependency between dogs, so building independence and confidence away from each other matters.
🐾 Don’t force a relationship. Your dogs don’t need to play together, sleep together or be attached at the hip. Some dogs will naturally be incredibly close, while for others, peacefully coexisting is more than enough.
Multi dog households aren’t about trying to make every dog fit together perfectly. It’s about enjoying the relationships they do have, while still understanding the individual dogs in front of you and making sure their needs are being met. 🧡
